The sun shines outside the patio windows, and Jack Johnson's new album is playing softly in the background. K and I just finished a breakfast of chocolate-chip pancakes with blackberry yogurty and raspberries on top, with a few cups of coffee and juice on the side. It's supposed to reach about +7 degrees today, so we might have to take in a walk through M.C. Park, only a few kilometres from home. Of course, reality will be calling later in the day as I set out to do some marking and tackling the prep work for the rest of the week. Although I'm somewhat ahead of the game, I need to keep on top of everything... I've always been a bit of a procrastinator (okay... that was a HUGE understatement), but so far things are going alright, so I just have to keep on keeping on.
This Sunday morning routine has become pretty common over the past month. I woke up a bit early one morning to cook K some pancakes, and since then it's become just a bit, well, expected. Not that I mind... I like starting off the day with a quiet and casual breakfast, enjoying time that we never seem to have during the week. K's been working overtime for nearly two weeks now because of RRSP/Mutual fund season (she works at a financial office), and since I've started my new job, I need to put in some pretty major hours in order to keep on top of skipping kids and missed assignments and sorting out where, exactly, the ESL room and the department resources are. That, and the day to day planning as well... gotta keep up on that, as well. K had to go into work yesterday, so I went with her and spent the day typing up questions and quizzes and assignments for my Macbeth unit that I started this week. The more I read the play, the more I really enjoy it, and I get really excited about it's contents. In a way, I feel like I'm cheating the play by not teaching every important tidbit, even though I know that if students can walk away just a little more comfortable with Elizabethan English and respecting the highly figurative nature of Shakespeare's language, then I've accomplished my goal. That, and making them think that maybe Shakespeare isn't so impossible at the end of the day after all.
My first week has been pretty successful, all things considered. I've already started calling parents about absent students, and have tried to do my best to set a tone for my high expectations regarding both behaviour and effort. At least one of the classes seems to be truly on board (which is also my biggest), and another seems to be following in that direction as well. The third is, well, going to be challenging for sure... a few of the girls in the class are already challenging the way I run the ship, and I've had to make an extra point of not putting up with any crap if they're going to skip and complain and be pylons while they're supposed to be working. I've been told a million times that the first few weeks are all about setting the tone, and I've tried to do that as well as I can. Then again, we're still inthe honeymoon period... talk to me again when it's May and beautiful outside and kids are more concerned with partying than poetry. Not that anything like that would ever happen... 17 year old boys love poetry...
Right??
Since he's singing along with his guitar in the background of my life, here is a good line from Jack Johnson's new album...
"... don't daydream again
Just help me to believe and then
Show me that there's more than just the meantime"
- Jack Johnson, "Monsoon", from the album "Sleep Through The Static".
T
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